Here’s my open letter to Mo Reese on this subject: www.adultfyi.com/read.php?ID=58604

from www.dailynews.com – Two bills are pending in the state Legislature that promote and expand the use of condoms by two very different groups of people – porn stars and prisoners – each based on programs that are already in place in Los Angeles.

One would require actors in adult films shot anywhere in California to wear condoms – a proposal that builds upon a ballot measure approved by L.A. County voters last year, and which has been blamed for shutting down porn production locally.

The other would expand the distribution of condoms in state prison, a practice already followed in L.A. jails since 2001 and in San Francisco since 1989.

Both are aimed at preventing the spread of AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections, though their level of support appears distinctly different.

The condoms in prison bill had been introduced twice before, passed by the Legislature and vetoed both times by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. But the author of AB 999, Assemblyman Rob Bonta, D-Oakland, says it is time now for the effort to move forward. The Prisoner Protections for Family and Community Health Act would expand condom distribution to prisoners in five state prisons.

“People think wrongly about this issue,” Bonta said. “In prison, (sex) may be illegal, but it is happening.”

“There are a lot of suspicions on what condoms in prisons will be used for,” Bonta said, adding that some may argue if the condoms will used to hide contraband, or encourage forcible sex.

A separate bill introduced in February by Assemblyman Isadore Hall, D-Compton, would require actors in porn films shot anywhere in California to use condoms. AB 332 has received wide support from the influential AIDS Healthcare Foundation – the main backer of L.A. County’s condom measure – and has passed the Assembly’s Labor and Employment Committee.

Both bills are expected to be heard this month in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

The AHF has not signed on to the prison bill. Also, while AB 999 did pass in committee, it encountered more opposition at that level than the porn proposal, including a no vote by Assemblywoman Melissa Melendez (R-Lake Elsinore).

“This bill aids and abets illegal sexual activity by inmates,” Melendez said in a statement. “We need to enforce current rules against inmate sexual activity, not promote it. In this time of budget crisis, this is the last place we need to spend our public safety’s limited budget. This bill exposes the state to liability if distributed condoms fail and the inmate nonetheless becomes infected with a sexually transmitted disease.”

Adult film performer Mo Reese [pictured] wonders if the apparent greater level of political support for requiring actors, but not prisoners, to wear condoms, presents a double standard.

“It’s hypocrisy,” said the 36-year-old actor and director in an interview.

With the rate of HIV up to 10 times higher in prisons, the actor – who goes just by Mo – said all the support and attention on condoms to be worn by performers in porn seems misdirected.

“I am not a lawyer, or a politician, just an average guy that works in the adult entertainment industry,” Mo wrote on his personal blog. “Adult performers and the industry as a whole have been referred to as a public health risk by AIDS Healthcare Foundation. I believe that AB 999 is a bill that would help stop the spread of HIV and other STIs that are contracted in prison and spread to the general public. As a California resident, tax payer, and adult industry member I want to know – why doesn’t AIDS Healthcare Foundation support AB 999?”

The foundation was the driving force behind Measure B, the Los Angeles County initiative that required the use of condoms in adult films shot in Los Angeles County.

AHF executive director Michael Weinstein said the adult film industry is trying to create scandal. He said the group supports the concept of distributing condoms in prison, but would not specify why it hasn’t signed on to this particular bill.

“We’ve supported bills like that for many years. We donated condoms for distribution,” Weinstein said. “We’re at the forefront at those efforts.”

Weinstein and others agree that while providing condoms in prisons is another step toward protecting public health, the issue raises too many complex questions, concerns and even anger.

A similar bill was introduced in 2005 by then Assemblyman Paul Koretz, who is now a Los Angeles city councilman. It was supported by the AHF, but was vetoed by Schwarzenegger, who noted that it conflicted with state penal code prohibiting sex in prisons.

In 2007, Assemblyman Sandre Swanson introduced a similar bill, but Schwarzenegger vetoed that as well; that time, however, he directed the state’s Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to allow a nonprofit organization to provide condoms at one state prison as a pilot project.

The 2008-09 project found that when prisoners will use condoms when provided. The cost, including the purchase of the dispensers and the condoms, was $1.39 per inmate. The cost to treat a prisoner with AIDS is $41,000 a year, according to a state analysis of the Bonta bill, meaning if it prevents just three or four AIDS infections, it would pay for itself.

Bonta said he believes results from the pilot program will give legislators and others a clearer reason to support AB 999.

“The Solano pilot project found that when condoms are distributed in prisons, they are used,” he said. “The condoms don’t increase the incidence of consensual sex or rape, but they do create an inexpensive barrier to a deadly disease.”

The study however, could not conclude if HIV infection rates decreased, because the project was only conducted for a year

Prison condom distribution programs already exist in cities such as New York, San Francisco, and Philadelphia. The Center for Health Justice has for years provided condoms and education to those in Los Angeles County jails. About 1,400 people in L.A. County jails are HIV positive, but Steve Whitmore, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, said the numbers seem to be declining.

Cajetan Luna, executive director for the Center for Health Justice, acknowledged that while the discussion of mandating condoms in porn and providing condoms in prison seem to be compatible, they are two very different issues.

Ron Osorio, who served 19 months in state prison for a white collar crime and is HIV positive, said expanding condom distribution in prisons statewide has lagged because there’s a perception sex will be encouraged.

“Inmates are not supposed to be having sex. It’s technically a felony in state prison if you get caught,” said Osorio, 55, who now works for the Center for Health Justice as a special projects director. “But guards know that it goes on. When I was in there, I was in a double man cell. My cellie and I slept in the same bed. They never had a problem with that.”

He said the concerns about condoms used to hurt others or conceal contraband is misguided. Inmates who work in the kitchens, for example are given gloves, which could produce more risk.

Meanwhile, the adult film industry has been at a standstill since the passage of Measure B last year, which requires that all actors involved in porn production in Los Angeles County wear condoms and production companies apply for health permits. Some production companies have tried to film in neighboring Ventura County. But the board of supervisors there voted recently to pass a similar ordinance as Measure B. And the City of Camarillo also passed a 10-month moratorium on all requests to shoot adult films in their area.

Mo, the adult film actor, said he is pro-choice when it comes to condoms, but said passing a statewide condom law will only encourage production companies to move, or make movies with actors who are not tested regularly for sexually transmitted diseases.

He also said instead of mandating condoms statewide, production companies should consider making public service announcements about safe sex to be shown with adult movies, so that young people who view them understand the difference between fantasy and reality.

“There are risks to our job, but there are risks to other jobs,” Mo said. “The last thing I want to see is for the industry to go underground, because the mainstream here in Los Angeles has accepted us.”